Chapter 196

My heart skipped a beat. I stepped back, biting my lip hard enough to taste iron. Could it be—? No. It couldn’t. Not him. Not here.

But the pain in my chest didn’t fade; it deepened, stretching across my ribs like a hand reaching from miles away.

“Selah,” Darius said sharply, his calm cracking for once. “Stay still. Whatever that was, it’s—”

He stopped, head snapping toward the window.

The torches